


Unspoken at the Peach

by Elizzybeth



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: F/M, Missing Scene, The Brotherhood Without Banners (ASoIaF)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-19
Updated: 2021-01-30
Packaged: 2021-03-17 06:07:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,522
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28844325
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Elizzybeth/pseuds/Elizzybeth
Summary: My take on the infamous scene at The Peach. Why is Gendry truly not ringing any bells? Does he even know?
Relationships: Arya Stark & Gendry Waters, Arya Stark/Gendry Waters
Comments: 28
Kudos: 116





	1. At The Peach

**Author's Note:**

> From "A Storm of Swords" Chapter 29
> 
> An old man sat down beside her. “Well, aren’t you a pretty little peach?” His breath smelled near as foul as the dead men in the cages, and his little pig eyes were crawling up and down her. “Does my sweet peach have a name?” For half a heartbeat she forgot who she was supposed to be. She wasn’t any peach, but she couldn’t be Arya Stark either, not here with some smelly drunk she did not know. “I’m …” 
> 
> “She’s my sister.” Gendry put a heavy hand on the old man’s shoulder, and squeezed. “Leave her be.” The man turned, spoiling for a quarrel, but when he saw Gendry’s size he thought better of it. “Your sister, is she? What kind of brother are you? I’d never bring no sister of mine to the Peach, that I wouldn’t.” He got up from the bench and moved off muttering, in search of a new friend. 
> 
> “Why did you say that?” Arya hopped to her feet. “You’re not my brother.”
> 
> “That’s right,” he said angrily. “I’m too bloody lowborn to be kin to m’lady high.” 
> 
> Arya was taken aback by the fury in his voice. “That’s not the way I meant it.” 
> 
> “Yes it is.” 
> 
> He sat down on the bench, cradling a cup of wine between his hands. “Go away. I want to drink this wine in peace. Then maybe I’ll go find that black-haired girl and ring her bell for her.” 
> 
> “But …” 
> 
> “I said, go away. M’lady.”
> 
> Martin, George R. R.. George R. R. Martin's A Game of Thrones 5-Book Boxed Set (Song of Ice and Fire Series): A Game of Thrones, A Clash of Kings, A Storm of Swords, A Feast for Crows, and A Dance with Dragons (pp. 2229-2230). Random House Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

“Ring all the bells you please, I don’t bloody well care!”

Gendry didn’t need to watch Arya’s exit to feel the looming anger in her wake. He brought wine to his lips, glaring a hole into the bottom of his cup. When he set it down, he scanned the room, rage simmering beneath his skin. He could ring a bell or two, he thought, but the very notion made his ears turn red. He didn’t know much about wooing or fucking, but he’d kissed girls in Kings Landing, and could figure out the rest if he wanted to. 

Another girl, blonde this time, came slinking up to him and ran her hands down his arms before whispering breathily in his ear. Gendry got up abruptly and went to the nearest exit, deciding to do a lap around the perimeter. 

Why wasn’t he ringing any bells? He didn’t know himself. There was plenty to be attracted to in the serving girls, but when he looked into their eyes all he could see was Arya getting ferociously mad. It made his stomach lurch painfully like a betrayal. He kicked at stones on the road for a long while.

Eventually, Gendry made his way up to the sleeping room at the inn. He was surprised to it was filled with a wall-to-wall bed made of hay. Only Arya had retired, and she was lying still on her side. Even his irritation was no match for his instinct, so he crawled over to her left.

She was already asleep, he deduced from her even breathing and lack of listing. He felt some of his anger dying down as he lay on his side and watched her back risk and fall. It really threw him when she was dressed like a girl, he decided. He was used to most people thinking she was a boy and therefore not having to worry too much about strangers like that nasty man at the peach. She was wearing a dress, but she didn’t look old enough for that, did she? 

Gendry looked at her dark brown hair falling down her shoulders, unusually clean and seemingly soft. He supposed she was older than when they had first met. She looked more like a lady than a child, though still in between. He had overhead Harwin saying if they had been at Winterfell, she would already be betrothed by now. The thought made his anger bubble back up, all slick and coursing through his limbs. He didn’t know why. It was not like he wanted to ring her bell. She was far too young and he too baseborn, as members of the brotherhood reminded him often. But he felt comfort in her presence. Sleeping by her, riding their horses side by side, talking. He supposed she was the closest thing to family he ever had. He remembered how she had tried to rescue him before Harrenhal and had gotten herself taken prisoner. When she eventually found a way to escape from Harrenhal, she had made sure to free him with her. She was an angry and impulsive little thing who liked to punch him, but she showed him more care than he’d ever received in his life, aside from his own mum. 

He didn’t know why that care meant he couldn’t lay with some other girl, especially since he certainly was not going to bed a young kid like Arya, but he just felt in his gut that he shouldn’t. He felt content to close his eyes and listen to Arya’s even breathing, safe in the knowledge that this was a terrifying life, but they were living it together.


	2. The Morning After at the Peach

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gendry and Arya wrestle with their feelings the morning after their fight at the Peach.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some of the text in the beginning is taken directly from GRRM's scene the morning after Arya and Gendry fight at the Peach. 
> 
> Martin, George R. R.. George R. R. Martin's A Game of Thrones 5-Book Boxed Set (Song of Ice and Fire Series): A Game of Thrones, A Clash of Kings, A Storm of Swords, A Feast for Crows, and A Dance with Dragons (p. 2231). Random House Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

Gendry awoke the next morning to the deafening baying of dogs. He could tell Arya was no longer beside him before he even opened his eyes. Awake almost immediately, he glanced around to see several men hovering by the window. Disregarding his boots, he padded over to see what the fuss was about. He found Arya curled into the window seat. He took a deep breath and climbed into the windowsill beside her. It was small, and he had to squeeze in against her to get a better view. He wasn’t sure if she was still mad about last night. She glanced over at him and then ignored him, which he felt was a good sign. 

He glimpsed a figure that had to be a very large man with rope bound around his wrists. The townspeople were throwing dung at him and shouting up something horrible. Gendry heard Lem, still in bed, roar something about the bloody noise. Gendry turned to see Tom, naked as his name day, peering over their shoulders to get a look. 

Tom hollered back to Lem that they’d better find Greenbeard and Anguy, to which Lem huffed something unintelligible and pulled his cloak over his entire head. 

“Lannister,” Arya said. “I heard him say Lannister.”

Gendry asked if they had caught the Kingslayer. No one answered him, but then the man got hit by a rock and turned his cheek; his horribly burned cheek. Gendry heard Arya’s breath hitch. Glancing at her face, he found her eyes squinting and her mouth set in a hard, firm line. Gendry could tell she recognized the captive. And he was certain she did not like him. She never sat motionless for this long. 

As the rest of the brotherhood drifted away from the window to either fall back into bed or head downstairs, Gendry remained squeezed in the windowsill with Arya. She turned to him and their eyes met, a memory holding of their argument from the evening prior. Gendry said a silent prayer of thanks when she didn’t move away. She just turned back to the window, seemingly to get another look at the captive. Gendry stared at the chipped, dirty shudders and how they were nudging up against Arya’s shoulder. 

“You know I didn’t mean it that way,” Arya finally voiced reproachfully, not needing to remind him of the context. 

Gendry sighed, looking down. 

“My favorite brother is a bastard,” she reminded him. “I don’t give two figs for your lineage. You’re the one who gets angry about it.”

He exhaled forcefully and looked away from her. Different words scrambled through his mind, but he didn’t know which ones to pick or how to put them together. He just knew he wanted to stay close and not have Arya be mad at him anymore.

Arya smelled the air.

“You stink of whores,” she accused, moving to climb over him. 

“I do not,” he insisted, shifting so she could not pass. 

She met his eyes, scanning them demandingly to find a lie. He held her gaze steadily. 

“I don’t,” he repeated. 

She still looked dubious but didn’t move. Before he could make a conscious decision, Gendry felt himself shifting closer to the side of her face. He inhaled and felt her whole body still. 

“You’ve had one of them flowery baths again,” he said.

“So what?” Arya managed.

“Well, I was only by you all night, so if I smell any sort of way, that’s your fault. Milady.”

Gendry was surprised to see a blush rise from her to neck to her cheeks. She turned to meet his eyes.

“You stupid,” she breathed. 

“Yeah,” he replied. “But so are you.”

A smile crept onto her face and she shoved him. He shoved her back. She sprang into motion, punching him in the chest as she tried to roll over him to escape the windowsill. He laughed and wrestled her back for a few moments, all elbows and legs flurrying around. When she had him pinned half reclined with her knees digging into his stomach, he glanced around the room and found a few of the men’s eyes on them.

Gendry sighed and tried to extricate himself from Arya.

“I’m winning!” Arya hissed, digging her knees in further and making Gendry cough. “You’ve got to yield.”

“Get off, Arya,” Gendry whispered back. “Before Lem wakes up.”

“You just don’t want to admit a girl beat you,” Arya laughed, not moving. 

“You didn’t beat me,” he shot back. “I can’t wrestle you proper anyway.”

“Why not?”

“It’s like you said, m’lady,” Gendry met her eyes. “You aren’t truly my sister.”

Something flashed in her eyes, but before she could respond, he sprang up and pushed her body with his out of the windowsill. He caught her weight as she was about to hit the floor and stood her on her feet before stepping quickly past her. He was relieved to hear Lem’s snoring, still muffled by his cloak over his head.

As Gendry sat on the edge of the bed to start lacing his boots, Arya came and stood directly in front of him. He didn’t want to meet her eyes for fear of finding the return of her anger. He concentrated on his boots until she kicked his foot. 

“Hurry up, stupid,” she told him. “We gotta go find out why the Hound is here.”

He met her eyes and saw impatience, but no anger. He grinned.

“As m’lady commands then.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading my first posted GoT fanfic! I just love the dynamic between Arya and Gendry, and GRRM left so much unspoken between the two of them. Thank you to all who have kudo'd and commented. All the support helped me finish chapter 2, which I wrote about 15 different ending for, but none really fit, until it came to me this morning. 
> 
> Thanks again!

**Author's Note:**

> This is my very first time posting GOT fanfiction! I have lots of drabbles written up, but there have already been so many awesome fics about these scenarios from the book...nevertheless, I hope my interpretation of canon brings someone joy, as other people's fanfics have brought me! Comments are most appreciated! I have a chapter 2 about the morning after that is mostly written, just editing. Thank you!


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